


Recoil

by Gazizaty



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Domestic, F/F, Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Modern, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PTSD symptoms, Post-Pacifist Route, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Soriel (if you squint hard enough?), mute!Frisk, rating may change but i doubt it, some fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-30 21:43:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5180807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gazizaty/pseuds/Gazizaty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lately, Sans has been having trouble helping. Or waking. Or eating. Or...doing anything at all.</p><p>(latest chapter is just an authors note! tbd~)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sans was standing in front of what looked like to his brother, a giant wired snake-like monster...with tiny wheels. It had been funny at first (well, it still was to him) when Papyrus freaked out at the chain line of shopping trolleys, and this wondrous supermarket that was just a few blocks away from their new home. One that was much MUCH bigger than the one back in the Underground.

Did he say new home? Hah, yeah...that little bit still hadn't sunk much into Sans' skull either, but if he must count the days it had to be about a month now since he and the others breached the surface. Heck, it ****had**** to be a month since Papyrus was so insistent in getting everyone together to celebrate this joyous occasion.

And when Sans was taking out the trolley and pushing it towards where he'd meet up with his brother, he just HAD to get the one with the squeaky wheels, didn't he? Ah, he didn't care, so long as they moved, and he swore if he was any shorter, he wouldn't haven been able to even grasp the damn thing.

 _'curse this stubby height of mine,'_ he thought, grinning even though his eyes bore a tired look. ' _gah, who am I kiddin'? papyrus stole all the tall genes, obviously.'_

He stopped in place with his cart near the frozen section. A lazy sigh falls from between his teeth, his hand is already emitting a faint glow of azure blue before he flicked a finger. He looked down contently at his hand.

_'i should just move this thing with magic, if i'm so lazy--,_

The light in his eye flickers, concentration breaking, “huh?”

Eyes wide and curious stops and stares at him from afar, a child brimming with curiosity that even though their parent, their mother, is holding their hand and waiting in the checkout line patiently, all their attention seems to be on Sans. And they dart back and forth between his face and the fadedly lit hand. The gaze was almost as if it was challenging Sans, but he knew that look all too well, and it was only a matter of time before this child...

Sans' eyes roll, ' _oh boy...'_

“Mommy!” The child shouts gleefully, and they tug on their parents sleeve hard, “Mommy look! That monster's a skeleton! They did something weird, he...he started to light up!”

“Calm down,” Their mother says, without even turning to them. She appears to also have quite the frown on their face. “It's rude to stare.” she belittles, and the child pouts and sulks in place, but does as they're told. When the child is quiet, however, the mothers eyes slowly watch Sans from the corner and of course, Sans immediately walks off. His magic had already dissipated as if nothing happened, but that doesn't take the scowl off her face when she's observing him. Or judging him more like.

It took all of Sans' strength to not retort what she had just reiterated to her kid, and that he also knew better. Knew better enough that not all humans were going to welcome his kind to the surface. But he dealt with it, simple enough.

And if they didn't like it, he'll ****deal**** with that too.

“SANS!” The familiar voice of his brother echoes from a distance in the aisles yonder, “SANS! OVER HERE!”

Sans' makes his way over, keeping his casual pace and greets his brother with his signature grin. “hey.”

“SANS WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? DID YOU GET LOST?” His brother questions, body towering over him but Papyrus looked surprisingly anything but frightening for a skeleton. “I CAN UNDERSTAND, THE HUMAN MARKET IS AN ARRAY OF STORE GOODS. BUT ALSO A CUNNINGLY DISGUISED MAZE!”

“there are signs overhead bro,” said Sans, pointing up at the large sign above them that read ****Frozen Food****. “i don't think they'd want ya to get lost.”

“OH,” Papyrus looks up, guess he hadn't notice these before, “QUITE CLEVER, I SUPPOSE. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL GET US TO THE SPAGHETTI SECTION POST-HASTE.”

“i don't think there is one for that.”

“NONSENSE! SPAGHETTI IS A GLORIOUS PAST TIME FOR THE HUMANS, I AM SURE WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT THERE IS A HOMELY SHRINE FOR IT HERE TOO.”

“sure,” Sans knows when it's better to let Papyrus have his fantasy, “but why don't we try the pasta section over there?” he points in another direction.

“AH YES,” Papyrus cheers, “ONWARDS THEN!”

* * *

 

The evening runs smoother than Sans previously imagines, Toriel and Frisk arrive on time and greet the skeleton brothers as if they hadn't seen them in years, which was untrue since the brothers made it their duty to look after Frisk when Toriel had to stay back after class. Undyne and Alphys arrive fashionably late and it's not hard to see why when Sans opens the door to greet them. Both ladies were beet red, seems they had better things to do than to arrive a good half hour earlier, much to Papyrus' dismay. But Sans was genuinely happy for the two, one was never seen without the other.

Sans would have, or thought to, invite a few others like Asgore and Mettaton and well, one of them is obviously too busy soaking up their new found fame and the other? Well, he'd have to run by it with Toriel at first and he just knew the answer to that old jig. Maybe another time?

So six, Sans counts, at the table chatting away as he closes the front door to their home. When he turns back he's pleased, funnily enough their home looks to be like their old one back in the Underground, aside this sweet new dining room they have now since Papyrus wanted to make sure that guests would be a frequent thing at theirs.

Speaking of his brother, the taller skeleton makes an announcement that dinner will be prepared soon, and Undyne is eager to join him in the kitchen. Sans regrets to think about the chaos the two will make pretty much when before it was usually Papyrus at hers, so he gladly joins the rest of the guests in the dining room.

“howdy,” he waves, grin never faltering, “it's been a while since we all got together like this huh?”

“Yes,” Toriel agrees, her smile as warm as Sans pleasantly remembers, “it is good to see everyone is well and fitting in.”

 _'i guess?'_ Sans fights down the urge to shrug and keeps grinning at her.

“I-I agree,” Alphys stammers, fidgeting in her seat, “your home is very nice Sans.”

“why, thank you.” Sans says winking, “us skeletons do try and fit all the secret mess in our closets after all.”

Already, Toriel is giggling alongside Frisk, who sat near 'the obviously cringing but still trying to smile' Alphys. Despite the racket they're making in the kitchen, Papyrus calls out angrily.

“SANS! NO PUNS BEFORE DINNER!”

“ah geez, that's some good hearin' bro.” Sans chuckles, and spots Frisk happily looking up at Alphys.

“Hey, uh...Frisk,” she says nervously, “You okay?”

“They are fine,” Toriel assures, “they are just really excited to see everyone all together again. You should have seen the way they practically dragged me here by the hand, haha.”

“that's good to know,” said Sans, getting comfy in his seat with his hands in his pockets, “so school doing good for the kiddo, then?”

“Well, yes actually, it's a little tough for them sometimes,” Toriel nods, “but you know our Frisk...”

“yep, they're one tough cookie dough.” Sans finishes, and Toriel can't help but widen her smile.

“But, there is...one other thing rather...” she says, quietly as if taking Sans to one side. Frisk and Alphys seem busy trying to communicate, mostly with Alphys studying to read Frisk's hand gestures fast enough.

“hmm? what's that?”

“I am...worried, about the repercussions of their time in the Underground.” Toriel admits, glancing down at her hands, “I had hoped the trails they faced Underground wasn't too much for their youth. I am scared it might ruin their innocence.”

“what?”

“Oh I know, it is silly of me to think like that, is it not?” she sighs and this time Sans sits up.

“no no it's...not that.” he says swiftly, “just that well, little frisk here is like I said...a tough cookie. ain't nothin' they've faced so far they can't take care of, i'm sure.”

“But Sans,” she exaggerates, soft and stern, “Frisk is just a child, _m_ _y_ _child_ that I will take care of. I am worried of this surface world that I have no idea what it will do to them in the future. I am sure they are capable and smart but they...”

“tori,” Sans speaks up confidently when Toriel's voice seems to simmer, “come on, you really think you're gonna help with raising frisk all on your own? not to sound demeaning or anythin', but you got us? ya know, we don't know much bout this surface world either. but we're gonna try, and we can take care of frisk all together.”

As if Sans' grin couldn't get anymore wider, it really lifts his spirits when he sees Toriel looking back up at him like her usual, calm and happy self. He felt he should have gotten a little pat on the back for this reward, because damn did that make his evening.

“Thank you Sans.”

“anytime.” he winks, “hey you want me to babysit frisk any--”

A crash and an abundance of clattering noises that follow are heard from the kitchen that alerts everyone else in the dining room. Toriel is the first get up before Sans follows, his hand lightly touching her arm in reassurance.

“leme go check on that.” he says, and turns to the other two as well, “be back in a sec.”

Sans walks over to the kitchen. He knew something like this would go down tonight, unfortunately. But why did it have to be at theirs? And in front of...

He turns a corner, head popping into the kitchen doorway. “yo, i heard a noise?”

As Sans predicted, there were a few pots and pans over the kitchen floor, and some ingredients for Papyrus' trademark spaghetti.

 _'good thing no plates were destroyed in the mess,'_ Sans thinks, treading over carefully.

“Argh! Damn it Papyrus, all that training we had was for nothing?!” Undyne growls in fury, glaring at him.

“NO NO! YOU HAVE IT ALL WRONG UNDYNE! I WAS GOING TO MAKE SOME SPAGHETTI CAKE. YOU KNOW, TO CELEBRATE.” Papyrus said, sounding perky, and only then notices Sans in the room, “OH. HELLO BROTHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“nothin' really, just me and the rest of our guests well,” Sans gestures to the clutter floor with his head when his hands are in his coat pockets, “dinner looks to be making progress at least.”

Papyrus sense of sarcasm never fails to do good for him, and he replies, “OF COURSE! WE ARE REALLY GETTING UNDERWAY HERE AS YOU CAN SEE.”

“I don't think you should make cake and spaghetti together though!” Undyne argues, her arms folded.

Papyrus tries to reason. “OH? WHY NOT. IT LOOKS SO SIMPLE ONLINE.”

“that's because it probably was cake that just looked like spaghetti bro,” Sans shuffles closer to the pile.

“What?! No way!!”

“UNBELIEVABLE!!”

Sans' chuckles at them both, thinking, ' _you too, undyne?'_

“Well, I guess if it was just cake...” Undyne ponders, her frustration seemingly dimming. “Maybe we can try that?”

“WHAT? AND MAKE NO SPAGHETTI FOR DINNER?” Papyrus looks at her, shocked, “WHAT KIND OF HOST WOULD I BE BY DOING THAT?”

Undyne groans, “Look, you want the cake or not?”

Before Papyrus beams with his answer, Sans is just a split second ahead, “you can go one night without spaghetti, right papyrus? it is a special occasion after all.”

That seemed to make Papyrus pause, before he full heartedly agreed with his brother. “YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THIS ONE SANS. ALRIGHT THEN, LET US MAKE A CAKE.”

“Dude, do you even know how to bake a cake?” Undyne asks and Papyrus is already checking his shelves.

“I AM SURE I LEFT A COOK BOOK HERE SOMEWHERE.”

“Ugh, you're so bad at searching. Leme help.”

Sans leaves both of them be to search their, admittedly mostly bare, cupboards and goes on to help clean up whilst he was there.

 _'cake? for dinner?'_ he thinks to himself, and shakes his skull slowly, ' _this can't be healthy, not sure how tori is gonna like that. should have suggested something else...ah well.'_

His eyes gaze down at the bits of kitchenware and items on the ground, ' _welp, guess this can't be helped, i suppose a little magic can sort this out without them noticin'.'_

Honestly, it was an easy job when all he needed to do was extend his hand and with a flick of his wrist, he had the items levitating in the air. His eye glows a faint, light blue shade, as does his hand. And in no time, they're back on the...

The tiny sound of plastic nearby him grasps Sans attention, and he peeks down. A small salt shaker seems to have slipped his grasp and collides with the floor once more, rolling away.

“whoops.” he mutters, but easily places the small object back with the rest.

 _'that was weird,'_ Sans blinks, ' _oh well.'_

He cocks his head back at the two in the room, “hey uh, you two gona be okay?”

“YES. OF COURSE BROTHER, YOU MAY NOW LEAVE.”

“Get your butt outta here already Sans, there's too many cooks, ya know?!”

“alright.. alright,” Sans chuckles at them, and lazily walks off to return to the others at the table.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news, I've already plotted out the entire story. Bad news, I've ideas for more Undertale fic I've been cooking up so uhh sit tight I guess? (or is that really bad news?). P.s someone please draw Sans in the trolley with Papy pushing him thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Sans had forgotten how warm it was when he held Frisk's little hand. Skin, flesh, heat, it was all so very strange, but somehow nice. He had been doing this a couple of times now actually, as a favour for Toriel but he would have done it even if she hadn't asked. As a school teacher, Toriel sometimes had to stay back in class for who knows what reason. She tells Sans she had to go over her student's work as well as the upcoming schedules the staff have planned.

Which sounds like a load of bull to Sans.

He doesn't question her though, he certainly understands how hard it is trying to fit in a new world where humans aren't quite used to seeing the things they see in the movies or on television come to life. Toriel must be having a difficult time there, but he also believes she'll make them come around.

He and Frisk had been chatting along the way to his home, well...mostly Sans in this case. He asked them how school work was going and they, like any other school kid, stick their tongue out in displeasure.

Sans chuckles, “heh, that bad huh?”

They nod, now walking up to the steps of the skeletons house. “here we are,” he says, opening the front door, “make yourself at home kiddo.”

Frisk gladly lets themselves in and jumps on their sofa, dropping their bag nearby as Sans closes the door, “papyrus? hey, you home?” he calls out, and there's no answer.

 _'probably out,'_ he thinks, ' _he did mention something about a job application this morning. god...please don't let it be something to do with cooking. and speakin' of cooking...'_

“hey frisk, you feelin' hungry or anything?” Sans asks, and it looks like Frisk has already gotten their hands on the television remote, flicking through channels and getting themselves comfortable. They nod at Sans, who in turn starts to think about what to even make.

 _'wow, it's been a while since i cooked anything in the kitchen, papyrus usually does it, or i'm filling on snacks.'_ Sans is tapping his foot in thought, before something finally comes to mind. “how's a sandwich sound, kiddo?”

Frisk makes a light, humming sound in approval, nodding and swinging their little feet. And with that confirmation, Sans makes his way to the kitchen. “alright, one healthy sandwich comin' up.”

He swings the room door open, and the kitchen is clean like Sans thought it would be. Papyrus does do a good job of taking care of the house, which doesn't reflect well on Sans when he's pretty much here all the time.

“okay, time to make a sandwich,” he says to himself, and quickly sets the counter up with the utensils he needed.

 _'it's times like these where i really wish there was a grillbys around here, wait...wasn't there some place called mcdonalds? and...isn't that a farm name?'_ Again, Sans has to pull himself out of his distracting, idle thoughts.

_'ahh man, this is why i don't cook....'_

The skeleton sighs to himself, before washing his hands and looking around for the condiments. But looking left and right pretty much gets him no where fast however, and he pictures himself in Papyrus' place instead.

Sans spoke softly, “now, if i was my brother...where would i put these things?”

And so Papyrus, being Papyrus, Sans looks up for his answer. Surely enough, some of the seasoning's he needed were at the top of the shelves, also meaning that they were way out of his reach.

_'thanks papyrus...'_

Sans flexes his hands at his sides, before raising one in front of his face, slowly drawing out his magic. The air around him grows tense, eye flickers ever so slightly, and Sans pours all of his concentration forth until he releases his energy. He observes how his magic warps around, slithers and grasps a hold. When ready, Sans then flicks his hand towards himself. And again. And again.

And...again?

Though the grin never leaves Sans face, his eyes are lidded in annoyance, and he huffs in frustration. He waves his hand once more with more vigour, but all that seems to do is make the dressings shake only a little bit. Tiny beads of sweat are already forming on Sans' temple, and he gives it one last try...except, this time around there isn't even single a reaction.

“the...hell..?”

Sans lets loose of it all, his magic and the tense air in the room wisps away. He breathes in deep, and out again, like he's out of breath.“today's...just not my day. huh...i guess, in any case, i better ask frisk what they want inside.”

He eyes the counter for a second, before turning to walk and grabs the door ajar, popping his head out. “hey kid, what do ya want in your sandwich?” he says out loud.

Sans' gaze wanders when he doesn't receive an answer, but immediately notices that the child was no longer on the sofa, but the television was still on. “frisk?”

Pulling the door wide open, Sans steps out entirely, and instead spots Frisk trying to climb their rather tall bookcase (thank you again, Papyrus), struggling to reach for something with their wobbling hand. A small, nervous laughter could be heard from Sans.

“h-hey kiddo, what do you think you're doin' there?”

Apparently, Frisk doesn't seem to hear him, and only seems to be more determined by the second to grab a book just out of their reach. Sans watches their wriggling fingers stretch closer and closer, before glancing down at their feet, and finds an increasing shadow developing around Frisk.

_'wait...'_

The bookcase tips lightly and makes a strained noise, and that's all Sans needs to know before he lets out a panicked sound and springs into action. He summons his magic faster than ever, eye burning bright and intense, then directs his magic between Frisk and the toppling bookcase.

The bookcase itself has tipped over, but has been left suspended in motion, whereas Frisk could be found on their back on the floor, clearly startled by it all. For Sans though, it had felt like an incredible weight was lifted, though he could still feel his heart beating fast, at least they were safe.

Sans lets his shoulders relax, “phew, for a second there i was...”

He hears the sound of friction sliding across each other. A narrow section of books start to slip from his grasp, and before Sans could even tighten his hold, they all fall heavily on little Frisk's body. He hears a muffled cry.

“frisk!!” Sans shouts in distress, urgently drawing out more of his magic but wasting no time either to run over to them and pushes the bookcase upright finally. He pants, hastily getting to his knees, digging and casting aside everything.

Pulling the last one off Frisk, Sans finds the child in a slight daze. “kid, hey...come on, can you hear me?” he says as he tries to calm his own voice down with difficulty. Sans manages to support Frisk to sit up right, smoothing out their hair as he does so. “frisk..?”

There is a brief moment of silence, but eventually Frisk turns to him, and slowly nods, albeit still looking a bit confused. Sans blinks, “is that a...yes you are okay?”

They nod once more whilst humming, and this is the second time today Sans feels the sense of relief. “ahh man, thank god, tori would have had my skull if...”

There's a bump. Sans was playing and patting down their hair when he felt the swell of a bump on their head. He groans, then nonchalantly pulls his hand away, “nevermind, tori's getting my skull it looks.”

Sans raises his hand again only to carefully brush out their hair, but it proved to be useless anyhow. No matter what he did, it would not cover the failure he made to protect Frisk from harm, until little fingers started to wrap around his own. Frisk pulls Sans hand away from them, and they gave Sans quite a stern look, until it slowly softens into one of worry.

“what?” Sans questions, appearing content, “yeah i know, tori's gonna really have a go at me i'm sure.”

But Frisk shakes their head, letting go of Sans bony hand to stroke the left side of his face for a while, then tapping his skull gently like they were trying to soothe and tell him something. Sans tries hard to analyse what they're doing.

 _'my...eye..?' S_ ans thinks out loud for a second, though he could feel the exact moment how the look of worry then becomes a lot more obvious.

“ah!! no no...uhh, haa haha, this? this is okay frisk, this is fine.” Sans is finding himself trying to cover his eye as he assures them, whilst freaking out internally on just why the hell his magic was still active?

It matters not, since Frisk sees straight through him, shaking their head negatively. Sans' words only seems to make them more concerned about their glowing eye. It's then that Sans figures it's pointless as it would take them in circles, and so relaxes himself by closing his eyes. He takes in a slow, deep breath. His entire body calms down, loosening up, before breathing out.

Gradually, his eyes open up and the blue in his eyes is no where to be seen. Like nothing happened, and Sans smirk widens. Yet Frisk still scans his face, before it appears that they're satisfied. Or at least, less worried.

“see? nothin' to worry about kid.” Sans chuckles, and he manages to make it without stuttering. “i know you ain't seen something like that before, but just trust me on this one.”

_'and for good reason.'_

It takes a while but it does look like Frisk believes him, the way they're smiling back, and leans over to hug him tightly. Sans returns it automatically.

“alright frisk, let's finally get you some food.”

* * *

 

Just as it was turning into the evening, there's a knock on Sans' door. He and Frisk were huddled on the couch together, one long and cosy blanket between them as they binge-watch some cartoons. Sans hops off his seat, with Frisk following after, once they've grabbed their school bag.

“that's probably tori,” he says to them, “ready to go home, kiddo?”

Frisk nods excitedly as they walk to the front door. He opens the door wide, greeting Toriel casually as Frisk runs past him and into Toriel's arms.

“hey tori. funny, i swear i saw you earlier today.”

“Oh Sans,” she laughs softly, holding Frisk to her, “it is good to see you.” Toriel looks down, ruffling Frisk's head. “And you too my child, did you have a good time?”

Frisk nods eagerly, pleasing Toriel who is very unaware of how Sans is nervously eyeing how she's patting Frisk's head. “That is good to hear. I hope they were not any trouble at all, Sans?”

“course not, the kid's a saint.” he replies quickly.

That seems to make Toriel smile, “I am glad, I guess if next time we...Frisk?”

It's too late, Sans doesn't do anything but watch as Toriel winds up finding the tiny bump on Frisk's head. She pauses, contemplating on what feels like forever to Sans, but she speaks tenderly to them.

“My child, how...did this?”

Sans can feel the sides of his grin tighten and twitch, knowing he has to come clean to her. Anything else would have just made it worst. Yet, he couldn't, or rather...someone else stepped in. Frisk takes a step back from Toriel, and with a few dipping hand gestures and movements, Toriel listens to them.

“Are you saying...you fell down, Frisk?” Toriel said, and the child nods. Toriel pulls them into another embrace. “Oh, my dear child. Please be more careful in the future, okay?”

Sans goes on to stare at them, hands deep in his pockets, standing in silence.

_'...thanks...kiddo.'_

Toriel pulls away, turning to face Sans and holding Frisk's hand, “I'm sorry about that Sans.”

“what? no that's fine.” ' _or i should be the one that's sorry here, really.'_

“However, it is best we get going now, I have to prepare dinner. But thank you for doing this.”

“anytime, tori.” he winks, “anytime.”

“YOUR MAJESTY? HUMAN? IS THAT YOU?”

Sans leans to the side, hearing and spotting Papyrus walking up the path to their home. “oh, you're back. welcome home.”

“YES. I AM BACK AND I HAVE VERY EXCITING NEWS.” he says happily, and turns to Toriel and Frisk, courteously bowing. “YOUR MAJESTY, SMALL HUMAN. IT IS GRAND TO SEE YOU BOTH HERE, WILL YOU BE JOINING US FOR DINNER THEN?”

“Hello Papyrus,” Toriel nods and smiles, with Frisk waving away at their friend. “Unfortunately not this time, I've got to get Frisk back home early as it is a school night. But another time, perhaps?”

“OH. CERTAINLY THEN. I WISH YOU BOTH A QUICK AND SAFE JOURNEY HOME.”

“me too.” Sans adds on.

They bid their farewells whilst the brothers wave and watch over them walking off, slowly into the distance until they could no longer be seen. Afterwards, they head inside together. Sans goes to the television that was left on, and Papyrus locks their front door.

“so, bro, there was something exciting you wanted to tell me?” Sans switches the television off with the remote, turning to his brother.

“AH! YES I DO!” Papyrus holds a clenched fist to his chest, posing, “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NOW PAPYRUS...THE GREAT TRAFFIC WARDEN!”

“wow, congrats bro, that sounds like a heavy job.”

“IT IS! I'LL BE ONE STEP CLOSER TO OWNING A REAL RACING CAR. AND I BELIEVE WE SHOULD CELEBRATE ON THIS WITH SPAGHETTI AND SOME CUT UP HOT DOGS.”

Sans laughs, winking at him, “that sounds great, now you're talkin'.”

“YES. I WILL GO PREPARE DINNER, AND RETURN WITH A MEAL OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY!”

“yeah, you go do that bro.” Sans says, knowing by now that his brother doesn't really need his help at this point. Or rather, Sans just becomes too devious to deal with. Papyrus enters the kitchen, the door swinging shut after he and Sans looks away, leaving out a defeated sigh.

“man, what a day.”

_'and it's not even bedtime.'_

Sans strolls over to their staircase, one hand on the rails when his eyes catches a book on the floor near the bookcase. The events from earlier in the afternoon race through his mind, sending chills down his spine, and Sans steps back down over to the books.

He pauses, seconds ticking and quietly waves his hand over the book. A glow of blue surrounds it, sounds of pages turning could be heard as Sans lifts it through the air, towards the highest shelf, when he notices something familiar about it.

“hey, that's my old joke book i thought i lost ages ago.” he says, releasing the book from his magic hold and catching it in his hands. “ah, i wonder if this is what frisk was after?” he ponders, flicking through the pages as his excitement rises.

“this is going _tibia_ good evening.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aight, i felt a LOT of love from the last one guys, thanks so much! I feel like I might be abusing his magic slightly, oh well. I ALMOST made it without Sans punning in the entire chapter wtf


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your patience. Made this part a little longer for that reason.

With his hands upon his hips, Papyrus stares proudly at his wardrobe. It was nice to see his clothing line assorted with something a little more...professional, namely his work outfit. Of course, there was some room for improvement here and there on the dreary colours given, but he thought it was best to keep it to himself for now until their next meeting, where he could propose such an idea.

Papyrus grinned widely, that should surely get him good marks on his record.

And...now that he's mentioned work, Papyrus wondered if Sans was even working as hard as he was job hunting at this moment. It had been a week now, and Papyrus had started to grow accustom to his new work environment. Although some humans could use a little more of a friendlier tone when driving. Papyrus had never heard such an array of colourful words spew from one mouth this other time he was working. He almost thought to give that human a harsh ticketing. Alas, his first introductions could have gone a lot smoother too. He was surprised at how many adult humans were afraid of him but-- if they can be anything like Frisk well, Papyrus was sure they'd be friends soon enough.

The tall skeleton left his room shortly after, only to knock hard on his brothers bedroom door. He already knew how much of a heavy sleeper Sans is, and if Papyrus doesn't wake him up the first time well...the next few knocks can get pretty frustrating.

“SANS? BROTHER, ARE YOU IN THERE?” he calls, “IT IS ALREADY WELL INTO THE AFTERNOON NOW, HOW CAN YOU STILL BE SLEEPING?”

Papyrus leans in closer, briefly hearing a shuffling noise from within the room. And surprisingly enough, the door creaks open slowly to reveal a very sleepy looking smaller skeleton, who looks to be barely keeping their eyes open.

“wha..?” Sans blinks several times at him, “g...good mornin' papyrus.”

“IT IS THE AFTERNOON, SANS.” Papyrus cocks his head to the side, “HAVE YOU BEEN SLEEPING ALL MORNING?”

“huh? noo...really?” Sans says lazily, but then expresses a half hearted laugh, “haaa...maybe, I have? oops, my bad.”

Papyrus frowned, unable to understand his brothers nonsensical words. As Sans rubs his heavy eyes, Papyrus leaned to the side looking into his brothers messy room.

Wait, no...that's not right. It's...it's not...

“SANS, DID YOU...CLEAN YOUR ROOM?” Papyrus asks, eyes narrowing.

“eh?” Sans turns his head back slightly, “isn't it always like this?”

“WELL, NO. HONESTLY. IT'S ALWAYS IN A DISATEROUS STATE.”

Sans yawns, “oh gee, thanks bro.”

Papyrus inspects his room further, coming to a quick conclusion, “BROTHER, DID YOU EVEN SLEEP AT ALL?”

“what? what are you talkin' about papyrus, course i did.”

“BUT YOUR ROOM, IT'S SPOTLESS I'M JUST SURPRISED IS ALL.” Papyrus points to Sans desk, “LOOK, EVEN YOUR PET ROCK IS--”

“papyrus, come on,” Sans interrupts, slouching his shoulders, “i don't exactly look like mary poppins to you right now, do i?”

“MARY...POPPINS?”

“yeah, you know mary...” Sans stops himself whilst he's ahead, “err, never mind, let's just say at least i'm up now.”

Sans tries to walk around and past his brother as he shuts the door behind. Papyrus watches him leave, frowning even now. “SANS.”

“yeah?” Sans turns to him slightly, feet at the steps and a hand on the railings.

“I WAS WONDERING, WELL,” Papyrus pauses shortly, “SINCE I HAVE A JOB NOW MAYBE IT'S DUE TIME YOU LOOK FOR ONE AS WELL?”

 _ughh...papyrus, not now..._ Sans has to stop himself, again, from looking like he's sulking. “why's that bro?”

“WELL, MAYBE IT MAY KEEP YOU PREOCCUPIED?” he suggests, “LAZYING AROUND AT HOME ALL DAY CAN'T BE GOOD FOR YOU. AND AFTER ALL, THERE'S JUST SO MUCH TO EXPLORE IN THE HUMAN WORLD!”

“i suppose,” Sans has to agree, “but you didn't count for one thing.”

“HMM? WHAT'S THAT?”

Sans gives Papyrus a simple one worded answer, “frisk.”

“FRISK?” Papyrus folds his arms in thought, “WHY WOULD THE HUMAN FACTOR IN THIS...OH.”

Sensing his brother now understood him, Sans begins to carefully descend down his stairs. “yeah, and don't even bother askin' undyne or alphys to pick the kid up, you know how busy those two ladies can get, heheh...”

“BUT SANS..!” Papyrus tried to persuade otherwise, but could see himself already become hesitant, “HIS MAJESTY--”  
  
“you kiddin' me bro? asgore's out of the question for tori.” Sans calls hollers back easily, now at the bottom of the steps, he stretches his body out from being tense for so long.

_now that everyone's got jobs left and right here...hell, we should probably count our selves lucky the humans ain't outright reject us all. well, least they're doin' a **great** job of hiding that anyway._

Sans turns back to look up at Papyrus from the bottom floor, “hey don't worry about it bro, i'll be the kids 'uncle',” his smirk broadens, “even if they didn't ask.”

“I GUESS YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THIS ONE SANS,” Papyrus says, admitting defeat, “NOT TO WORRY! I'LL WORK TWICE AS HARD FOR US BOTH THEN.”

“I don't doubt you for a second,” Sans winks.

Just then, Papyrus remembers to mention something, “OH, BY THE WAY, IF YOU'RE HEADING FOR THE KITCHEN I HAVE MADE SOME FOOD LEFT OVER FROM THIS MORNING. THEY SHOULD BE PACKED AWAY IN THE REFRIGERATOR.”

“ah, neat.” Sans waves him off happily, heading straight for that direction, “can always count on you papy.”

“BUT OF COURSE.” Papyrus smiles, though it begins to falter as Sans quickly escapes his sight. The taller skeleton can hear the cluttering sounds from their kitchen, and goes off to join his brother. Although, not until he passes one last side glance at Sans room. He lets out a quiet groan, shaking his head and walks off.

 

* * *

 

“WOWIE! BROTHER, LOOK!” Papyrus points up high towards the theatre building, filled with excitement. Sans follows his brothers gaze, and lo and behold it was the movie poster that Papyrus wouldn't stop talking about for the past hour or so.

Really. Sans thought he should, ironically, make some kind of joke here but no. The brothers had sat down on their sofa not to long ago and saw this action packed trailer. The movie followed the story of two incredibly polar opposite police detectives that had to work together on some super secret undercover case – that Sans didn't give two shits about honestly. But it made Papyrus clearly happy so...here they were now.

“looks good bro,” Sans nods, “let's head on in.”

Papyrus enters the building with much gusto in his walk as Sans slowly trails behind. Immediately, Papyrus is set off by the showy atmosphere inside.

“OH MY GOD SANS, LOOK! THERE'S MORE HUMAN MOVIE POSTERS INSIDE!...AND LOOK! THEY'RE GOING TO SERVE US CONFECTIONERY TREATS AS WELL!”

Sans quickly grabs a hold of Papyrus' arm before he could let him wander off like a little puppy, “uhh, i don't think they're are free, pal.”

“OH.” Papyrus sheepishly takes a step back and Sans lets go, slipping his hands into his coat pockets. “MY MISTAKE.”

Sans shrugs and winks, nudging his brother playfully, “don't worry, we can go buy some.”

“EXCELLENT! THEN I SHALL SEE TO THEIR BROCHURES ON THE MOVIE SCHEDUAL.” Papyrus remains ecstatic after all, and begins roaming the giant foyer.

The smaller skeleton watches over him, knowing exactly that once Papyrus had his heart set on something it was rather more difficult than not to stop him. And besides all that, the guy was happy so...Sans had real no qualms about it. Though it did seem a little ridiculous that neither brothers looked at the time slots for when the movie was showing. And even though Sans didn't quite appear to be as eager as Papyrus, there was some curiosity in his eyes. But, at the end of the day...

“ahh damn paps, if it wasn't for you...” he groans quietly under his breath, a tiny grin on his face. He spots his sibling not too far away, pestering some of the staff who looked tense with the skeleton, “seriously though, why even come here if the movies will be out later on? and what's with all the expensive junk food?”

“Sans? Is...that you?”

“Oh Sans? Hey! Papyrus is over there too!”

Turning around to the familiar voices, Sans is surprised to find both Undyne and Alphys waving and coming towards him. Naturally, he does the same. “hey, fancy meetin' you two here.”

“Yeah, I know right?” Undyne beams with her usual vigour, then marches off to surprise Sans' brother. “Yo, Papyrus!!”

Alphys and Sans quietly watch the scene unfold, with Undyne practically tackling the poor, tall skeleton on his back. The two yell a little, more to do with Papyrus being shocked, before they're found laughing merrily, and Sans can't help but ask Alphys on this one.

“leme guess,” he blinks at her, “the trailer, right?”

Alphys' sigh is a heavy one, “I'm not really into this stuff but...U-Undyne was really set on coming here.”

Sans chuckles, “say no more. paps wouldn't stop going on about it until i just gave up.”

“...y-yeah.”

“i'd have picked something a little more comedic but ahh...you know papyrus, jokes for him just go--” Sans does a waving motion over his head with his hand, as if he was throwing something, “a little far out of his reach to understand.”

“...i see.”

Sans pauses for a moment. Well, that was...odd for him to pick up. Even for Alphys, her voice seemed...to have quieten? Sans always knew she was the timid sort but around him even? Why?

He turns to her fully, catching her blatantly staring at him. She's apparently distracted, and of course flustered by being caught off guard so she attempts to glance elsewhere. Sans tilts his head.

“you uhh, alright buddy?”

“S-Sans...” Alphys is nervously playing with her claws, and in the background Sans can hear more distorted yelling from Undyne and Papyrus. It takes several seconds but Alphys continues, “your...umm...eye, it's...blue?”

“...what?”

It's too late for Sans to feint his bad reaction, as he ends up making a fool of himself by just looking away and using all his might not to let anything else of himself escalate higher. And it really... **really** doesn't help that he has an audience now.

_shit...shit shit shit this is bad._

His thoughts are a mess, but he eventually concentrates regardless, clenching his fists at his sides and closing his eyes. Deep, solid breaths soon follow after and he can just feel his powers hush. But why? Why couldn't he...notice before...

“Was that magic?” Alphys humble voice calls out to him, pulls him away from his meditative state.

Sans is silent, unusually so, and Alphys repeats her sentence. Although this time, she sounds more insistent despite herself. Again, Sans is...anything but talkative, like he's surely rattling his skull on this one. He reopens his eyes and if the whites from his pupils aren't gone and the blank, vaguely frightening, look he's giving to Alphys isn't scaring her already well...

“...yes.”

“How?” came her immediate response.

“i don't know,” Sans sucks in a deep breath, blinks and...slowly his face returns to his familiar, Cheshire like grin. His eyes are unreadable now, and he aims to keep it that way. He closes one eyelid, “but don't worry about it pal, it's fine.”

His wink had done nothing to appease his friend. “Please...Sans.” her voice is fragile, strained in a way that guilt trips Sans. He doesn't need this right now.

“what?” said Sans, it comes out rather bluntly

“I understand, okay? I-I worked down there, the lab...Underground...I kinda know about these things. There's files all around, it's kinda hard not to know about magic, right? Not that I know a lot but I can--”

“i'm fine,”

“--help you.” she finishes. There's another prolonged silence and Sans finds himself swallowing down a nervous lump. She looks at him, earnestly, like she wants to talk more about it but she's asking for his permission too with those pleading eyes behind her smudged glasses.

Sure, magic isn't uncommon Underground. You'd practically had to be living on the Surface to not know how things worked down there. But for Sans his...his was...

_no._

“thank you, alphys,” it's all Sans could muster to say on the matter, “i'll keep that in mind.”

With a reply like that, Alphys was smart to leave the topic alone. Not off the table, obviously, but it was not up for discussion. Not right now at least.

“A-Anytime, Sans.”

Such an unsettling moment was rapidly brushed aside as their two other, more spirited, partners came back to them bounding with the typical purchases you can find at any movie theatre vendor. Oh, and Sans supposed they did grab the tickets after all.

“Come on!! Come on!!” Undyne swooped in and carried Alphys by surprise in one of her arms with ease. “Let's go grabs the best seats we can before we lose 'em!”

Papyus was just as keen, but ushered Sans with him. They passed along their tickets to the staff waiting for them before they were told which room to enter. All four of them moseyed on in as the loudest bunch that grabbed attention. It wasn't exactly full but it was hard finding a place they'd all be able to sit together. However, some people were obviously put off by their presence and ended up sitting far away from them as possible. Which was, really, good for them in two ways. They'd all get to sit together, and be grateful Sans was the only one that spotted the humans behaviour.

Sans wound up sitting in between Papyrus and Undyne, with Alphys on Undynes' other side. He tries to get cosy, which is a battle he's finding hard to win when he's situated between the two loudest monsters in the room. Undyne is incredibly pumped whilst Papyrus comments on just about everything. Alphys looks busy with her phone. Sans no doubts believes she's typing up a status to post on her social network.

It takes a minute, but Sans manages to tune out the riled up ones next to him, and yawns. Blinking out of sync, his eyelids struggle especially more so when the lights in the room dim and the two become even louder than before. He can hear a few unhappy grumbles from those sitting behind him but Alphys is the one to gently quieten Undyne and Papyrus, or more like advise them to do so. Just a few more blinks however, and Sans is gone, ready to smoothly float himself asleep.

He thought...he could hear distant voices, again, though they're not coming from anyone he knows. Something about lights flickering...someone's phone is being a nuisance. A distraction. Someone questioning a bright, blue light.

“huh?”

Sans eyes spring wide open. Was he that obvious? I mean it could have been a phone too but-- Sans was too jumpy now to compare that. It only takes Sans so much to really put two and two together on this one but of all times for his magic to really mess him up, come on. This...

_this...hey, this isn't...the movie theatre anymore?_

The whole room is dark, pitch black even with no one around but Sans. He thinks he's floating in air, or swimming through it. He's not sure, none of this makes sense and he's trying hard not to panic about how much of a blur it's becoming. One thing he acknowledges though, he's not with the rest of them anymore and it freaks him out a bit.

He wants to look down at his hands, see if he can see them through the darkness. Make sense of everything. He wiggles his skeletal fingers for a minute, they seem to function normally, that's good.

Yet, static noise flies right past him, obnoxious and offhand. Sans' whole body jerks in reaction to it. Like an electric shock, it's excruciating as it surges through his bones. He makes a gnarled, pained sound. His teeth grind. It makes his vision cloudy but he can see someone appear before him all so suddenly. A short figure. A child's body stands in front of him. It's...familiar.

“fr..isk?” Sans had never heard his voice so weak before, he should feel startled but he's more disoriented than anything else.

The child becomes more clear to him, their face, it smiles. They look real to Sans as his sight returns. The striped shirt, small hands and feet. Their smile widens and...why. Why does that make Sans' heart ache? It hurts a lot. This isn't right. Loose strands of Frisk's hair falls away from their eyes and...

There's nothing warm about it. Their smile. Their eyes. And the stripes, they've changed colour? Green and yellow. Something twinkles besides them. Sans glances down, when the kid acquire that knife?

“ _ **Don't forget me, Sans,”**_ their voice is horribly broken and awful sounding, like it had been ripped apart. That doesn't stop them from smiling though. **_“don't forget me. Because I haven't forgotten about you. It's me, Chara.”_**

The name. It punctures Sans very core and the kid hasn't even touched him. They do, however, come closer with a menacing allure that shakes Sans' heart. Sans is wildly convulsing, desperate to back away from this child so much that he doesn't even know how vivid the glow in his eye has gotten. But he can't, he's immobilised on the spot. Fear becomes the one thing he knows right now and can cling onto before the child draws the knife near.

It's sharp, sharp like the voices that are calling for him in the back of his head. Echoes that go on and on until this world that grips him tight fades away. The child's eyes never left Sans for a second.

“SANS?”

That's Papyrus. Sans recognises his brother promptly and his eyelids flutter open. It's stupefying, the amount of times Sans' sense have been put under pressure today, but he deals with it. Papyrus calls out to him again, this time followed up by Undyne.

“Sans, you bonehead, wake up!”

“i...” Sans murmurs, sweating, several seconds later and he can feel his muscles reacting, voice crawling back in his throat. “i was...watchin'...the thing.”

Smooth as ever.

Papyrus was certainly unimpressed, “SANS, YOU SLEPT THROUGH THE ENTIRE MOVIE.”

“i did?” said Sans, barely above a whisper. He notices how quiet the room was, in fact, the room was brightly lit as before when they first came in. Sans would also venture to guess they, Undyne and Alphys included, were probably the only ones left inside. The girls were also staring down at him, expectantly.

Welp, this wasn't good at all. Sans shuffled in place, sitting up properly. “yeah...m-my bad...i uhh, yeah. i can't get myself outta this one, i'm sorry paps. maybe next time i'll catch it.”

Papyrus eyes him a little longer, before he lets up. But he's still a little disappointed. “IT'S OKAY BROTHER, I UNDERSTAND. MAYBE YOU DIDN'T GET ENOUGH SLEEP LAST NIGHT.”

“Sans? Losing on sleep?” Undyne was bewildered, but laughing to herself anyway, “What's this world coming to?!”

Alphys held a small smile on her face, but was evidently uncomfortable. “We uhh...probably should get going guys. They need to clean up in here for the next show.”

“Alphys is right,” Undyne puts an arm around her with a toothy grin, “let's get going nerds!”

 

* * *

 

The way back home is an abundance of chatter and wild, gestured motions, all on Papyrus' part. Since parting ways with Alphys and Undyne at the theatre, Sans had to...endure the rest of the way home with his brother who was kind enough to (sort of) re-enact the movie for Sans on the road home.

“AHH SANS, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE ENDING! IT WAS A REAL TEAR JERKER!” Papyrus held his hand to his heart as the brothers walked up their steps. Sans began unlocking their door.

“oh, really?”

“UNDOUBTBLY! HUMANS REALLY DO KNOW HOW TO MAKE A GREAT MOVIE. I WONDER IF THEY HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THAT BUT WITH SKELETONS?”

Sans couldn't help but snicker, “oh i'm sure there's one out there.”

They enter their home with Sans flicking on the lights. Papyrus wipes his feet on the mat, closing the door behind him. “GOOD! I'LL LOOK IT UP AND BE SURE TO LET YOU KNOW.”

“thanks bro.” Sans is already trudging up the stairs, it had been quite a long walk back and forth. “don't stay up tonight too long though.”

“OF COURSE, I HAVE WORK IN THE MORNING.” Papyrus exclaims, shortly trialling after him. When they both reach the top, Papyrus speaks up again,“BUT, SANS...”

“hmm?” Sans has his hand on his bedroom doorknob when he looks up at Papyrus.

“YOU...” It looks like Papyrus was having trouble re-debating his choice of words, which quips Sans' interest. “IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND, YOU WOULD LET ME KNOW, RIGHT BROTHER?”

Sans stopped himself from grinning even wider. Seems he definitely had to give his brother more credit than he could previously admit.

“sure paps,” he winks, “you'd do the same for me though too, right?”

“BUT OF COURSE!” Papyrus emerges with confidence, “I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE.”

Welp.

“good to hear bro, i'm gona turn in for the night but uhh...you want me to read you a story?”

Papyrus shakes his head. It wasn't the first time he denied Sans and it actually felt like the guy was growing up, if only a little bit. It was kinda nice. “NO THANK YOU SANS, I WILL BE FINE.”

Sans nods, waving his brother off tiredly. No doubt he knew Papyrus would be busy searching up skeleton related movies. “alright, i'll see you in the morning then. good night.”

“SAME TO YOU, SANS.” Papyrus smiles, “AND THANK YOU FOR COMING WITH ME.”

“anytime paps.”

When Sans hears his door click shut and flicks on his own light, it's peaceful. His room is silent, untouched as it were this early morning. The only noises he hears now are the cars outside. He takes in the view around and sincerely, there wasn't a piece out of place. His chair was tucked in, treadmill off and his bed was made. It's cosy, tidy and, more importantly, clean.

Sans frowns, a repulsed feeling grows steadily inside. Hurriedly, he storms over and pulls out a sock from a pile in his drawers, uncaring if they toppled over or fall out. He takes his place in the middle of his room, glaring at the ground for a moment, before dropping the sock. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every kudos and comment means a lot to me, and honestly, spurs me on to write faster and I love reading them. I apologise if I don't reply to every single one. Uni/real life has become a little hectic, but! I plan on finding time for this too, since I've added a couple more chapters needed and I basically know where this will go. Thank you again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals, go figure. Thank you so so SO much everyone for waiting! In fact, this chapter was supposed to be even longer but I had to break it into two. So hopefully I'll have another during this holiday season? Hope it's been worth the wait, I've been itching to post this one for the past few weeks. Thank you to my lovely gf for proof reading this chapter! ]: )
> 
> (slight Soriel in this chapter)

For once, Sans wakes up one morning feeling incredibly groggy and achy. When he takes a quick scan of his room he sees why. It's a catastrophe of strewn, loose clothing and knick-knacks that were carelessly misplaced all over his room. Even his pet rock had fallen on the floor.

Yet Sans couldn't help but grin widely at the mess he sought after all night long. It brought him...this strange sense of comfort, seeing this. He couldn't quite explain it, but after spending so much time periodically trying to clean and unclean his own room to get him to go to sleep; to Sans he felt victorious. He was, at last, given a dreamless sleep he never thought he could ever have again. After all, there's only so much a skeleton could do whilst staring aimlessly at their ceiling in the middle of the night until the dawn. To put it bluntly, it was the absolute worst feeling.

And sure, Papyrus will probably get mad at him later on but Sans could deal with his brother's little tantrums easily. Sans sits up straight in his bed, stretching his tired bones and yawning. He looks down at his pillow and grabs his phone underneath it and flicks through his contact list. He'd been meaning to do this one thing for a while now but a few complications made it difficult and...well work just sucked ass in general really.

Not that it was his work, Sans was still unemployed. But getting up into this good mood despite his body begging him for more rest, Sans' thumb stops at the name 'Toriel' on his screen. He takes a brief, hard stare. His sleepy eyes still need adjusting. Sans takes one deep breath, before he starts texting her.

_**'hey tori, still up for tonight?'** _

It takes a while, Sans doesn't want to feel like she'll respond automatically but Toriel's pretty good at replying back fast. He's almost worried that he caught her at a bad time during one of her lessons today, and that gets Sans checking the time on the clock on his wall. It's roughly about noon, and Sans is mildly surprised at himself for getting up now. Lazily, he rocks out of bed and onto his feet and immediately goes for his slippers that are a warm, snug fit.

He's about to go after his pet rock next on the ground but there's a short, high-pitched ping noise that gets his attention. Sans turns back to his phone, seeing it light up with a notification on the screen as he reads:

_**'Oh, of course! As long as Papyrus is alright with taking care of Frisk tonight.'** _

Ah, that reminds Sans. He better go ask Papyrus that in a bit too, see if his brother remembers exactly. Then again, Sans doesn't even quite remember if his brother is home right now or not. He might have just missed him for work but...he's sure Papyrus remembers. Sans' bony fingers start moving again.

_**'yep, pretty sure paps is guaranteed a-okay with it. i'll be sure to 'patella' him about it again to remind him.'** _

Sans can just about imagine Toriel giggling in his mind, and it sets him off chuckling softly to himself. There's an immediate response as he feels his phone buzzing in his hands.

_**'Thank you so much Sans, hope Papyrus won't be too 'sternum' with them. I'll see you later. ]: )'** _

Toriel leaves him with a cute, tiny goat smiley whilst Sans urges himself not to call this a date.

Because it wasn't.

In his head, he's picturing he's doing the right thing for his friend. Toriel really needed a break from everything, and she's been fighting tooth and nail to appease her superiors, which never settled well with Sans. He didn't even want to wonder how Frisk was holding up either.

He sets his phone aside for the mean time, yawning and stretching out his body once more. Ridding his weary thoughts for a moment to focus, Sans walks out from his room and instantly spots his brother on the ground floor through the gaps of the railing. Papyrus appears to be preening himself in front of a mirror near their front door. Sans goes over to lean on the banister railing with crossed arms. He can't help but feel intensely happy for Papyrus, he did look pretty damn professional in that uniform. It made him feel proud.

“hey paps,” he calls from above, “lookin' snazzy today. ready for work huh?”

Papyrus spins around looking up, smiling at his brother, “OH, HEY SANS! YOU'RE FINALLY UP, AND YES! I AM GETTING READY TO GO NOW.”

“that's good and all bro,” Sans nods, “but you do remember about frisk tonight, right?”

“CERTAINLY!” Papyrus proclaims loudly, a fist against his chest. “I WILL BE BACK A LITTLE EARLY TO PICK THEM UP.”  
  
“awesome paps, thanks again.”

Papyrus pats down his shirt, waving his smaller brother off. “NO NEED TO THANK ME. YOU ARE DOING A GOOD FAVOUR FOR HER MAJESTY, THIS IS THE LEAST I CAN OFFER.”

“heh, i guess,” Sans smirks, leaning with skull on his hand, “have fun at work bro, i'll see you tonight.”

“HAVE FUN TONIGHT TOO BROTHER!” Papyrus responds, pulling the front door open, “OH. BEFORE I FORGET, THERE ARE SOME LEFTOVERS IN THE FRIDGE AGAIN IF YOU WANT. I MADE A QUITE A BIG BATCH THIS MORNING.”

“niiice,” Sans slides his leaning body off the banister, heading for the staircase, “thanks a skele- _ton_ , paps.”

As Sans walks down his stairs, he could hear the obvious grumbling sounds of annoyance from Papyrus before they both shared their goodbyes. The house is silent when the door shuts, and it's honestly kind of gloomy. When ever Papyrus is around, how ever noisy and brazen as he is, he somehow automatically added life to their home.

Sans had sighed heavily at the thought. Moving over to their sofa and grabbing the remote that laid near him, he switched the television on. He had to add some background noise, it just helped distract him. The weather channel is showing but Sans is hardly paying any attention to it. He strolls over to the kitchen next, rubbing his sides as he feels a chilling draft. Yet, once he's there he doesn't...really head for the fridge like he would like to at first. Not that he couldn't endure his brothers cooking (he's already use to it by now), but that...he just...really didn't want to? Or that he didn't feel hungry at all. He even questions why he went here in the first place.

_'it's probably a morning thing. yeah.'_ Sans shrugged.

His stomach was not fully awake yet, and he thinks its a better idea to grab a shower first for now to help invigorate his body.

_'that ought to do it.'_

* * *

 

As the afternoon follows, Sans is grateful to not have any skin to really understand how cold the weather was becoming. That wasn't to say he couldn't feel the bitter sting of the wind, but he probably should have brought along a scarf. Maybe paying attention to the weather channel earlier today would have been a good idea.

When he turns his head to the side to briefly look at his companion, he is comforted somewhat. They look fit to endure the winter season, and Sans could probably venture to guess it was because of their sublimely thick, white fur. Sans vaguely wonders what it must be like to have fur.

“So Sans,” Toriel starts, the pair walking down the street side by side, “is there a specific reason for this little get together?”

Sans steadily fights down a blush that threatens to rise to his cheekbones, “hey, a guy really needs a reason other than to treat their friend to a nice dinner?”

Toriel gentle giggle makes Sans' heart sing, “Oh Sans, you are too kind.”

“hey, i mean it tori,” he says as they slowly approached their destination, “this evening belongs to you, and what better way to spend it than with a good friend, hmm?”

She agrees without hesitation, “You are right on that one.”

They arrive in front of a grand, brightly neon-lit building. The theme gave a complete retro diner feel. Sans holds the door open for them as then enter. They hear the sharp sound of bells chiming above their heads, signalling their arrival and a waiter arrives with a smile. As they are greeted and escorted to their table, Sans manages to catch a small glimpse of his old, fiery friend from afar at the bar. Sans naturally thought otherwise when he had company than to go straight there.

As the waiter leaves them to get settled in, Toriel thanks them in turn before facing Sans. “My, this place sure is intriguing. I have always wanted to go to a place like this, how did you find it?”

“a good friend of mine told me about it,” he answers with a wink, and silently waves at Grillby who nods back at him from behind the counter. “and it's kinda my second visit here too.”

Toriel notices, her eyes glancing back and forth at them. Though she had not acquainted herself with this friend of Sans' before, she indistinctly remembers long ago between the door of the ruins that Sans had talked about a “fiery monster bartender”, who had an apt for being wordless with his customers. She more or less then put two and two together here.

Picking up her menu, Toriel read the words from top to bottom and felt her hunger rising. She definitely wanted to try one of their pies, and the appetisers looked so appealing. Toriel felt her cheeks slightly flush, everything just sounded so delicious it made her feel a little bit giddy. So much so that it was probably a good thing that she hardly noticed now how apathetic Sans appeared.

The waiter that ushered them in earlier arrives back at their table, “Hey folks, you ready to order yet?”

With a little more enthusiasm than usual, Toriel places her order with Sans following suit. When her gaze falls back to her skeletal friend, she picks up his solemn and quiet behaviour at once. It's not like Sans was looking around aimlessly, in fact he appeared to be deep in thought. Toriel almost felt bad for interrupting.

“Ah, are you alright, Sans?” she spoke softly.

As she had expected, Sans turned back to her evidently flustered to be caught, “y-yeah, i was just thinkin'.”

“Would you mind if I asked why?”

“i was just glad, for grillby,” he gestures with his head, lazily motioning to the bar, “he seems to like it here, must be strange working with extra hands on deck, but his co-workers sound polite. i was sorta worried they wouldn't be able to understand him, he doesn't say much.”

“I see...” Toriel smiles, her hands on the table intertwined together. “That is rather thoughtful of you, Sans. They are very lucky to have you.”

“ah...” Sans is slow to react this time, pausing in their idle chatter to think. Or more like to sustain himself from turning more blue in the face. He can't seem to look at her directly in the eyes. “i just...i guess so.”

“How fortunate.”

“huh?” Sans catches the faltering tone in her voice and manages to sum up the strength to face her. It seems she was now the one to turn their gaze away.

“Ah, well...let's just say things have been rather...substantial? To an extent, at work.”

Toriel's smile weakens as she tries to find the words to say, but it's not like Sans was clueless here. He had more than an idea of where this was going to lead, but he stayed quiet as Toriel went on.

“However...there have been, umm...rumours? Shall I say? Going around and I...”

Toriel fidgets in place, recalling bitter memories. Her voice begins to drown out when Sans refuses to want to listen any further. He knows it'll set him off. He wants to say something right now, but that would rudely interrupt her. But it's all awful words. It is enough to make Sans ill, and want to make a few certain humans learn--

Glass breaks, sudden and loud, and there's a flash of light in the diner that has almost everyone jumping and yelping at the startling sound. Even he and Toriel are alert. Sans picks up the commotion from across the room, when two other occupied tables are alarmed by the one in the middle of them. Luckily, no one was seated there, but the glass bulb from the ceiling lamp above had dropped and shattered into pieces on top of the wooden table beneath. The noise in the diner grew uncomfortable, before it all ceased too suddenly.

“Sorry folks!” one of the staff members blurts out cheerily, grabbing attention. It just so happened to be the one that served them from the beginning. They strolled over to the table, as if nothing had happened. “Must have broken a fuse, that or someone here clearly didn't have a bright idea.”

There's a small crowd of laughter from the customers at their jest, even Toriel is chuckling. Sans, though, has been carefully watching the waiter's every move. The moment they arrive to the moment they start clearing up the mess, he is silent for the entirety of it. He blinks, peering up and down from the lamp to the table, and his eyes narrow. He then cocks his head to the side, catching his reflection against the blurry window and spots...nothing. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Just himself, in his typical blue hoodie and Toriel can been seen across...frowning at him.

Oh.

“Sans? Is everything alright?”

“err, yeah,” his reply is sluggish, but he is able to face her, “i just...remembered something. i heard from frisk the other day, you started reading the fluffy bunny to your class?”

“Ah, yes! They really like that one.” Toriel perked up, “Papyrus recommended this to me.”

“oh, is that so?”

“Indeed. I can not wait to read more to them.”

There was something genuine about the way Toriel beams and speaks about her work, sort of...sunny, in the way it made Sans feel. It made him glad, makes him lean back and relax in his seat that he doesn't even notice the waiter arriving at their table. It appears to be someone different.

“Okay, here's your order guys!” they heartily repeat the order given, before setting the drinks and food down on the table.

“Oh my, that was rather fast.” Toriel says, coloured impressed.

“You can thank our latest chef on board with us,” the waiter grins, “thanks to him our send outs have been faster than ever before! He's a terrific cook.”

If Sans had anymore doubt about where Grillby was working, he was sure by now those troubling thoughts had ceased to exist. The pair dining then thank the waiter as they left, but not before they do the customary “enjoy your meal” line.

“ _bone_ appetite~” Sans says with a winks. That too, was customary.

Toriel smiles, a hand to her lips to stifle a soft laughter, then swiftly tucks into her meal. It's an immediate reaction when she takes her first bite. An engaging amount of rich flavour, one that Toriel hadn't tasted in a very... _very_ long time. She ventured to guess that perhaps she had been doing too much cooking at home so often, it was almost sad to think she could not remember the last time someone else had cooked for her. Not exactly counting the times spent with her friends of course, but it eases her thoughts somewhat.

When Toriel sits up right to ask how Sans was fairing, she only witnesses her friend poking listlessly at his food. Sans may have the wide permanent grin on his face at all times, but Toriel could tell more beyond that.

“Sans?”

That doesn't seem to grasp his attention, he just continues to prod at his plate. Toriel is patient, and waits a few more seconds before repeating herself, a little more forceful in her tone. Sans flinches this time, dropping his cutlery with an unceremonious clatter. Toriel swore she could have seen an abrupt spark of blue when Sans blinks, but his eyes remain small and white.

“Are you...not hungry, Sans?”

“what? of course i mean, well,” Sans babbles on, he could feel his skull glisten, “i suppose i had a big lunch earlier, papyrus made this really big batch of spaghetti today.”

“That's nice of him,” Toriel replies, making no further comment and takes another bite of her meal.

Sans can't help but watch and feel a little nervous. Okay, so he could stand to take at least one bite out of his food. After all, Grillby was the one who made it and it would be such a waste not to savour this. And yet, when Sans stares down at his meal...

His appetite locks up.

It's as if it's caged itself away. Void of hunger and anything that used to make Sans crave for. A simple burger and fries? Even he couldn't stomach the idea of it, and it seriously annoyed him. How ridiculous-sounding was this? How could he even explain it to Toriel? Albeit, it was an ongoing battle to suppress and then some. But finally, Sans forces his hand to grab one of his fries before eating it.

He chews, feeling the fluffy texture, and swallows. It certainly is heavenly compared to the home-made cooking he won't go on about. But, he couldn't bring himself to withstand another bite. Like he was repulsed wholly.

“i...think i'll pack this one up,” Sans knows it's much too late, he's sweating now, and fights down a feeling of disgust, not only at his food, himself included. “i think i really did eat too much earlier, hah. my bad.”

Toriel doesn't make a single complaint about him barely touching his meal and instead nods, holding a warm smile. “Dessert, I suppose?” She suggests.

“hey, that's not a bad idea,” Sans waves over one of the nearby waiters, “i'll just pack this one up for now.”

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in time for Christmas! Thank you all and those that wished me well on my first term, ya'll are too kind!! =] Thank you to my lovely gf for once again proof reading this~

It's a short walk back to Sans' home, brisk but thankfully not quiet. Along the way they had talked about their daily routines into more detail, with Sans revelling about Papyrus' new job, and Toriel mentioning this new child in her class.

When they had left the building Sans didn't let Toriel make it a matter of choice when he paid the bill fully. He was also happy to have had the time to chat and introduce Toriel to Grillby for a while when his friend was free. He was definitely sure to come back to this place, maybe bring his brother too.

Unlocking and opening his front door, Toriel and Sans are both greeted with the sight of Papyrus and Frisk. They were sitting on the living room floor in front of the television. It looks like they're playing some kind of family board game. And according to the sour face Papyrus held, Frisk was winning unsurprisingly. The two on the floor perked their heads up in delight, running over quickly.

“Hello my child.”  
  
“SANS!!”

Toriel gave Frisk a warm and inviting embrace, as Papyrus stature almost toppled over Sans. The smaller skeleton stifles a groan, feeling his bones being squeezed, but he reaches out with his free hand, the other still holding onto his leftover takeaway, and patted his brother.

“glad to see ya too, bro,” he says, “did ya both have a good time?”

Papyrus pulls away with a smile, “OH YES!! FRISK AND I OPENED UP THAT NEW BOARDGAME I HAD PURCHASED THE OTHER DAY.”

“Oh, how quaint,” Toriel clasped her hands together, eager to hear more. Sans had closed the door to stop the cold draft from coming in. “Was it fun?”

“OF COURSE! AH, WELL...” Papyrus looked around nervously, “IT SEEMS FRISK HAS GOTTEN A LOT BETTER AT PUZZLES THAN I REMEMBERED LAST TIME.”

“That's my Frisk~” Toriel patted Frisk's head as they giggled.

“you sure you're not just losin' your touch, paps?” Sans teased.

Papyrus huffed at him, stomping one foot on the ground as he lightly butted heads with Sans. “NOT AT ALL! MY TOUCH IS STILL AS GOOD AS EVER! IN FACT, WHY DON'T WE PLAY A LITTLE ROUND OURSELVES!!”

“as much as i'd love to take you on that offer,” Sans chuckled at the enthusiasm, then turned to Toriel and Frisk, “it's getting pretty late, we probably shouldn't keep them waiting.”

Toriel blinked at him, appearing aloof, “Why Sans, what ever do you mean?”

“uhh,” Now it was Sans turn to appear confused. “home? i-i mean, not that i'm kicking you two out or anythin' but...it is a school night, after all..?” it came out more like a question than as a matter of factly.

“True,” Toriel's smile was oddly mischievous, “but I do believe it's due time for another pie, no? Butterscotch at that.”

Frisk and Papyrus immediately cheered at her declaration, but this all only raised further questions for Sans. “t-tori?”

Her playful facade faded to her usual, cordial tone, “Well, you never did order that dessert earlier. Would this be a suitable substitute?”

Sans face was a dark hue of embarrassment, “ahh...i could never say no to that, you know. but uh, we don't exactly have the right ingredients for...this?”

And that was exactly right. Sans had thought about baking again since reaching the Surface, but never truly got around to it. Besides, Papyrus was always happy to cook anyway. Even so, that didn't seem to discourage Toriel at all.

“Not to worry,” she nodded, looking to Papyrus who was attentive as ever. “I hope the ingredients I asked for wasn't too much trouble?”

“NO TROUBLE WHAT SO EVER, YOUR MAJESTY.” Papyrus proclaimed rather proudly, “THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN THE THE KITCHEN READY FOR YOU...ERR, DO YOU PERHAPS NEED MY ASSISTANCE?”

“You've been all the help I needed tonight, Papyrus. I owe you so much, thank you.” Toriel said gratefully, eyes full of affection that made Papyrus blush a little. Toriel lowered herself down to Frisk, who was holding onto Toriel's long sleeve. “But I could use a hand. Would you like to help me, my child? That is, if you are done with your game?”

Frisk responded eagerly, nodding their head. Toriel got back up, holding Frisk's hand tight and the two headed for the kitchen together. “Thank you for letting us use your kitchen, we won't be too long.” Toriel said lastly.

“ANYTIME!” Papyrus says, as the skeleton brothers watch. “PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE OR IF I MISSED SOMETHING.”

Sans felt incredibly out of the loop, trying to make some sense of this all. But he managed to utter a few words. “yeah...take all the time you need.”

Papyrus left Sans in his confused little bubble to start clearing the floor up where he and Frisk were last playing. Sans did however shortly follow after, heading straight for their sofa. Papyrus neatly tucked away his boardgames onto another shelf, whilst Sans flicked on their television. The flat screen lit dimly, emitting a low hum as it turned on. Papyrus did take his sweet time shuffling the game away, perhaps unusually so. And even with the television on, it was...uncomfortably quiet. There was no way of knowing why. Sans could not place it, but he had to say something. Anything else was better than this. Silence between the two brothers was rather unwarranted.

“how'd everything with the kiddo go?”

“GOOD.” Papyrus said, strangely brief with his word. His back was facing Sans, leaving no way of telling what kind of expression his brother held. “FRISK IS FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE AT SOLVING THE PUZZLES.”

“ha, sounds about right.” Sans grins wider, going through the channels.

Papyrus turns around silently, walking over to sit next to Sans. “AND YOU, BROTHER? HOW WAS DINNER WITH HER MAJESTY?”

“oh, that went smoothly.” Sans shrugged, “we saw grillby there too actually.”

“THAT IS GOOD TO KNOW.”

Sans continued going through more and more channels, each skip faster than the next. The silence between the brothers only grew, but Sans knew it was just a matter of time before...

“YOU KNOW, HER MAJESTY CALLED ME DURING YOUR MEAL.”

 _'there it is.'_ Sans shifted in place, “really?”

“YES SHE...TOLD ME SOME THINGS, ASKED ME...IF YOU WERE ALRIGHT.”

“i am alright,” Sans says quickly, but not too boldly, “and when did you guys even have the time to call? i was with her whole time.”

“I THINK IT WAS AROUND THE POINT YOU WENT OFF TO PAY THE BILL?” Papyrus taps his chin thoughtfully, “BUT IN ANYCASE, SHE ASKED ME TO GET A FEW THINGS FOR HER IF IT WASN'T TOO MUCH TROUBLE. HENSE THE PIE.”

“oh.” Now that part made sense to Sans. “okay then.”

“SANS.”

“hmm?”

“ME AND FRISK FINISHED THE SPAGHETTI, YOU KNOW.”  
  
“uhh, that's nice?”

's _o? what exactly are you getting at here, bro?'_

“...YOU DID NOT HAVE ANY, DID YOU?” Papyrus implied more than asked. His eyes held concern but Sans refused to look at him. Papyrus continued even so. “IF YOU MUST KNOW, I DID NOT MENTION IT TO HER WHEN SHE BROUGHT IT UP.”

“papyrus.” Sans put a little more force into his voice. He never liked being stern with Papyrus, or at all. But the taller skeleton was not fazed. In all honesty, Sans should have seen this coming.

“YOU SHOULD KNOW I AM FINE WITH THAT BROTHER, BUT TO TELL HER MAJESTY A LIE-”

“that's **enough.** ” Sans is already on his feet, having switched the television off at the same time.

He was still not facing Papyrus, but he knew that if he'd just looked at his brother once, he wouldn't have been able to hold himself for long. Not that there would be a trace of anger or discontent, it was everything but that. If Sans knew his brother well, and he did, Papyrus would be looking at him sympathetically.

“SANS...” Sans could tell Papyrus was being delicate now, in the way his tone softened. Was he really going to try and lecture him? “DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT I ASKED YOU THE OTHER DAY?”

Perhaps not.

“i...why?” Of course Sans couldn't exactly remember, he didn't want to sound negligent. It was probably too late for that though.

“IF THERE WAS SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND...YOU WOULD TELL ME, RIGHT?” Papyrus advanced closer and had already laid a gentle hand on his brothers shoulder. “SANS..?”

“i remember paps.” Sans says, honestly. That seemed to melt his tensions away slightly when he remembered how thoughtful Papyrus was that moment, and sharp too. He really couldn't stay frustrated around his brother for long. “i told you, i'd tell ya.”

The silence was becoming again between them, until Sans rested a hand on the one on his shoulder. He dared to finally turn his eyes to Papyrus with the warmest smile he could muster. “hey, sorry for snappin' at ya like that.”

Papyrus mirrored Sans' smile, “GOOD! I AM GLAD THEN. IT'S FINE, SANS.” he pulls away, hands at their sides. “IF MY GREAT SPAGHETTI WON'T DO THE TRICK, I AM QUITE SURE THEIR MAJESTY'S PIE WILL BE WHAT YOU NEED!”

“maybe..?” Sans shrugs, but he's loving Papyrus' positivity.

“I THINK I WILL GO AND CHECK ON THEM!” Papyrus decides, then strides to the kitchen, “I WILL BE BACK MOMENTARILY.”

“alright.”

Sans is alone once his brother has disappeared. The room straight away grows eerily quiet, much like earlier in the afternoon. The skeleton takes an idle look around the room. The clocks passes on with its timely ticks, and the faintest noise of what ever was going on in the kitchen can be heard. With a heavy sigh, Sans falls effortlessly back on the sofa and flicks the television on, and again, Sans is really only surfing through channels.

_'welp, that went smooth...i mean, of course it did. yeah.'_

Sans presses the number pads on the remote a little harder than he means to.

_'it's nothing. i'm alright, i'm fine.'_

Under his breath, he growls, “i'm fine.”

 

* * *

“oh man, i can't eat another bite.”

The plate slides closer to Sans.

“please, i'm stuffed.”

The plate is now practically touching the tips of Sans' fingers.

“frisk, come on, there's nothing even on it.” he laughs, and Frisk grins at him.

Toriel's pie had been a successful bake, and there was nothing left on the table but the crumbs on their plates. Sans and Frisk continued to bask in the afterglow of the delicious dessert, whilst Papyrus and Toriel chatted away.

“AND THAT'S WHY I THINK THE FIFTH INSTALLMENT OF THE FLUFFY BUNNY BOOKS SHOULD BE PUT ON HOLD.” Papyrus says, “IT WAS A RATHER ENTICING READ BUT I...SOME WORDS--” he then shook his head away from his discouraged thoughts, “I FEEL THE WRITER MIGHT HAVE LOST THEIR TOUCH ON THAT VOLUME, UNFORTUNATELY.”

“Ah, that is a shame.” Toriel said, pressing a hand to her face, “the children were excited for that one. I guess it is best if we try something new then.”

“INDEED.”

The pair turned to the other two at the ends of the table, seeing them content to doze off on their chairs. Toriel smiled, getting out of her seat to walk to the other side, gently ushering Frisk awake and on to their wobbly feet. That also prompted Sans to wake from his brief daze.

“I think it is best that we head off now, Frisk is so sleepy that there are small pieces of pie left on their face.” Toriel snickered lightly, brushing off the traces of crumbs from Frisk' mouth. The child made no attempt to stop her.

“SO SOON?” Papyrus sounded a little disheartened, but that was soon replaced with his diligence, “LET ME GET THE DOOR FOR YOU.”

“ah, thanks for the pie, and everything else today, tori.” Sans hastily mentions, sliding out of his chair.

“Anytime.” She replies gladly, as Sans slowly felt his energy crawling back, and joins the rest of them at the front door.

The night air felt surprisingly warm tonight, but Toriel still bent down to make sure that Frisks' coat was on securely. Sans smirk widened. Judging from their face, he knew Frisk wanted to protest this time but the poor child was too tired to try otherwise. The skeleton brothers bid their farewells and safe journeys to the two as they stumbled out of their home and onto the pavement.

After closing and locking the door, they set themselves to clean the table up, with Papyrus doing the job mostly but he was happy to talk about what a splendid evening it had been. The brothers later made their way up the stairs to their rooms for the night. Papyrus made sure to remind Sans to feed his pet rock after the horrendous state he saw his room in. Sans promised him this with a wink, and asked if Papyrus would like a bedtime story, to which Papyrus passed up on. It seems the taller skeleton was getting use to reading it on his own, Sans assumed. With that Papyrus wished him a good night and entered his room.

Sans made his way to his, momentarily thinking about today's events, but was cut short when his hand fell on the doorknob. He froze on the spot, he couldn't tell if he was just fatigued from today. Yet, an immense ache pounded against his skull so suddenly out of no where. He could hear the thumping of his heart, loud like shockwaves. Seconds turned into a minute, and Sans pulls away desperately, heading from their bathroom instead once he felt something inside twist.

With a deep breath, Sans leans against the closed door, shivering as he does. “what...the hell..?" His breath is shaky, "i don't...feel... ”

The room spins as Sans looks up at the ceiling, that had been a huge mistake. The light was blinding, flashing and glitching even from existence. He had no time or strength to question why, his vision distorted painfully even when he looked away. It doesn't help that the feeling in his stomach continues to churn. Sans groans, lurching forward. He stumbles towards the toilet when the feeling prickles along his spine.

No sooner does he reach it, he throws up and lays there on the floor for a while. He makes sure to flush, and Sans makes a low whine. He was about ready to fall asleep even there. He hadn't felt so weakened in such a long time.

“man...that sucks,” he sighs, eyeing the rim. “what a complete waste...”

His mind persisted to slowly blur from reality and not. Sweat fell to the sides of his skull as he tried to catch his breath. When Sans was sure he was calm and strong enough to stand, he walked over to his sink. He rinses his hands and splashes his face a little, before drying off and staring into the mirror. There, nothing...truly seemed amiss, aside the definite signs of exhaustion. His head was on right, bones clear from scrapes, even his eyes were a healthy glow of white. At the moment.

For the umpteenth time tonight, he sighed. “i hope paps didn't hear me.”

_'and what the hell **was** that..?'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and (since I unfortunately don't think I'll be able to post one out before it) a Happy New Year everyone! And to those that don't celebrate it, have an awesome day regardless!!! Much love~


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo boy, this has been a loooong time coming. So glad I'm FINALLY able to post this one out! Uni life has been real hard, so fingers crossed I'll tough out another one again! (I'm really eager to start a new Undertale fic after this one ends) Thank you ALL for waiting patiently on me, made it a little longer for ya'll <3 ;) and a THOUSAND and more thanks to my lovely gf for proof reading because wow...the mistakes she found...
> 
> you guys REALLY don't wana know xD"

The school hallways are empty and quiet when Sans walks down the narrow path. His feet make a hollow noise and echoes against the walls. It's all reasonably so, the kids were still in class and Sans so happened to arrive a little more earlier than usual to pick Frisk up from school. Sans also managed to have a nice chat with Asgore on his way here. The larger monster was trimming the hedges before he let himself in. Toriel briefly had a word with Sans outside her class when he came. Judging from what he could see from the crack of the door left ajar, the children were having a recreational period to do what ever they liked.

Toriel kindly informed Sans that if he wished to join them during their story time a while later before the day ended, he was very much welcomed to but after that, Toriel had to suddenly vanish off again, excusing herself from Sans and appearing rather flustered. Something about the staff and his presence that Sans didn't quite catch when she spoke fast, but he hoped being here wasn't going to cause too much trouble. Still, he didn't make a fuss about it, and so allowed Toriel to be on her way before he found himself alone in the halls again.

Posters and school boards plastered with leaflets litter the walls, and below were small lockers in neat lines. Some were opened, some were closed but Sans didn't bother looking at any. Instead, he stopped when he came across a large trophy cabinet, encasing some bronze and silver medals, and a rather large golden cup in the middle of it all. Funnily enough, Sans paid more attention to how much dust the oversized case had collected over the time it had been showcased. And it was **a lot**.

Even so, Sans didn't have much to say on that since he truly was no better, and turned his head to the school board right next to it. The same school board right next to Toriel's classroom. He swore if he wasn't able to find Toriel's class on his own, evidently this board would have been the first and only clue he would need.

Stuck to the board were papers brimming with drawings and a few notices, plus a timetable. And the drawings? All of Toriel, every single one of them. Most in crayon, some in pen and pencil. One was a cute attempt at painting (although next to Toriel had the words “moo”). However childish the drawing were Sans was quite taken, and let out a heavy chuckle. Toriel was damn lucky to have these kids.

“Ah, Sans...” Toriel came up from behind, “sorry about earlier. Just wanted to remind some of the staff about you being here.”

“it's okay tori,” Sans offers her his signature grin, “your kids are pretty adorable though, huh?”

Toriel doesn't understand at first, until Sans motions with his head towards the board. She starts giggling softly. “Oh...yes! They really are, haha.”

“i'm glad,” he nods, “me and paps should add to this board sometime.”

“Ahaha, you both are most certainly welcomed to.” she winks, “But we best go back inside, I would very much like to introduce you to my class, if that is alright with you?”

“ahh...” Sans pauses for a second, doubt crosses his mind but he manages to shake it off, “sure, if that's okay with ya?”

“Of course!” Toriel reassures, her hand on the door knob, “And I bet Frisk will be most pleased to see you as well.”

“Sure.” he follows her in.

_'cept i'm not so sure that's gonna be the same with the rest of them.'_

“Alright class, please gather around.” Toriel speaks up, and it takes several seconds for them to perk up and cease their play. Their happy, playful chatter was all but gone once they got a good look of Sans standing side by side with Toriel.

It wasn't a harsh glare, Sans had to admit. And he couldn't blame them if they did. Their stares were abundant indeed, but felt more weary and curious in their unnerving silence. As they came carefully closer, Frisk was somewhere in the back Sans noticed. Soon enough they bounced forward into the front lines of the small crowd. Their smile beamed when they see the skeleton, and amusingly enough right beside them following after was Monster Kid. A familiar face he really had not seen in a while. They too, had a wide grin.

“Sans!!” Monster Kid said out loud gleefully, Frisk in turn waved at him.

“yo, how's it goin'?” Sans replied with a cheerful tone. It was really nice to see the kid again in all honesty.

“Now class, please settle down. This is Sans. Sans the skeleton.” Toriel gestures to him, “He is also just like me...I mean, not like me. But a monster, and a good friend of mine.”

Monster Kid couldn't help but shout,“A monster like me too!”

Toriel smiled. “Yes, my child. So please, treat him kindly as we have all treated each other. I shall go get our story for today's reading.”

Some of the children cheered, following Toriel as she went to pick out a book from the bookshelf. Those who remained, however, were obviously still too fixated about Sans' presence in the room. So much so, Sans wasn't quite sure how to proceed with all the attention. He surprisingly didn't automatically set up a joke to ease the tension.

But luckily for him Frisk and Monster Kid bounded towards him as they always have.

“hey kids,” Sans gently ruffles the hair on Frisk's head whilst patting Monster Kid's as well. “havin' a good time?” They nod eagerly as Sans continues, “hey, that's good to hear. you guys really do make me miss my school days, especially science. always thought space was cool, ya know, before it _mattered_.”

There was an abrupt eerie wave of silence, and for one moment Sans thought that maybe that lame little joke of his might have been a bit above their young minds. He was quickly going to go on about something else, until he heard a faint laughter in the crowd. The child was immediately singled out by everyone else, and they quickly covered their mouth in embarrassment. Sans made sure he'd be remembered by this one.

“hey, a science fan huh? don't be shy kiddo,” he says with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, “unfortunately, i'd have more funny science jokes to give ya, but all the good ones _Argon_.”

Again, the child rumbles with laughter and it's honestly one of the most genuine sounds Sans has ever heard, it naturally lifts his mood up. Their laughter softly fades, and the child looks up at Sans with a smile, feeling more brave enough to approach him. And apparently so does the rest of them as they eventually group around him in awe.

They mutter amongst themselves where smiles replaced their frowns. The child that Sans amused catches him off guard by lightly grasping one of his little fingers. The content smile lingers on their face.

“Your name is...Sans?” the child tries to say, unsure but determined.

“yep, that's me.” the skeleton nods. Besides him, Frisk and Monster Kid are grinning, happy that their classmates are befriending Sans and warming up to him.

It was odd, though, how Sans wanted to think their touch was going to be different, something new. But it really wasn't. Their grasp on his skeletal finger was just the same as when Frisk held his numerous of times. Warm, soft, and an almost fragile feeling. Why did Sans even think their touch was going to be remotely different to theirs in the first place?

“My children, please, let us all gather around now,” Toriel's voice grabs everyone's attention immediately, and the children go to sit around her, “it's time to continue Fluffy Bunny's' adventure.”

The atmosphere in the room is thick with excitement, and Frisk tries to pull Sans along with them but he politely declines.

“nah, it's alright,” he said, “besides, i've read this one so many times to paps.”

Frisk shrugs at him but nods along and joins the others who are already immersed in Toriel's reading. Sans quietly moves over to the windows and grabs a nearby seat. Relaxing himself in the chair, he props his arm up on the windowsill, leaning close to the glass. He can hear every word Toriel says, her voice sometimes escalates to a high point when she's exaggerating something, and then suddenly change when she's trying to sound deeply mysterious. It's captivating really, Toriel had a knack for story telling.

Regardless, Sans continued to stare outside the window and into the playground. It remains empty, of course. But the wind outside was picking up quite a bit, judging from the shifting swings that swayed in the breeze, and the roundabout to turn ever so slightly in place. Luckily for Sans, it was much warmer inside than he would have guessed. Barely a crevice in the room. The leaves on the ground swirled up in the wind, Sans watched them dance and twirl until they left his sight. He blinks, eyes divert back to the center of the playground, and a child was standing there.

Sans gasps softly, the air brushes against the glass. He blinks again, unsure if his vision was playing tricks. The child is still there, unmoving. The slight fog he's unintentionally made against the glass blurs his sight, and he picks up some of the colours.

Green. Yellow.

The child slowly rears their head up, a sharp glint can be seen by their side. It's as dangerously sharp as their grin. It takes mere second for Sans to piece everything together.

_'...chara..!?'_

The skeleton panics, eyes wide as the glass in front of him cracks at the same time. Curiously, it doesn't shatter, but makes quite a sound upon impact. He backs away fast, toppling his chair over. With gritted teeth, he blinks again, staring hard at the figure outside who is

...gone?

 _'no...'_ Sans starts to argue with himself. His chest aches. _'no...no no no NO damn it! they were right there!!'_

“Sans..?” a voice so gentle and concerned calls out to him. It repeats, a little more louder. “Sans...”

Along with the voice, there are tinier ones that are muffled but have the distinct sound of fear as they tremble. Sans manages to pull his gaze away from the window, towards everyone else in the room. A memory he'll never forget.

There Toriel stands, in front of all the children behind her, she towers over them like a living shield. Yet, from what Sans could assume, there was no trace of anger on her face. Just confusion and worry. The children however, appear far from that.

Sans has to look away, back at that damage that was done and...he spots a long, prodding bone spearing out of the window half of the way. It instantly clicks that this is what must have made the giant crack in the window and the noise. It stems from the centre as the damage is all around like a giant cobweb, the bone sustains it from crumbling over. He realises.

**He did this.**

His eyes flicker briefly to his own reflection in the cracks of the glass. It's a relief to see that his eyes haven't changed at least. They're slightly shaky, but still white and small. But the others in the room aren't going to wait on him much longer. He knows he wasn't going to worm his way out of this one easily, or at all. But he had to come up with something quick.

“i err...sorry for disturbin' ya,” he starts, a hand scratches the back of his skull. He spots one of the children trying to hold back tears. Sans then notices it to be the very same child he met earlier. He swallows, forcing himself to continue. His voice has gone deeper. “sorry tori.”

Toriel is momentarily quiet, eyes still. He feels so frozen in place, equivalent to that of a deer caught in the headlights. Who would have known such a weight could be felt merely from someone's eyes alone. Sans watches her, from her dogged gaze to a sudden change of heart. Her eyes turned to look down motherly at the children, like she was completely ignoring Sans.

“My children, please settle down,” she says as tenderly as possible, patting some of their heads, “everything is fine. Please, do not worry. But I must step outside for one moment.” her head rears towards Frisk, “Frisk, my child, you are in change for the meantime. I shall be back very soon.”

Frisk hears her, but even they haven't really shaken off their stare over Sans. Rather than fear, they appeared to look somewhat apprehensive. Yet, they nod understandingly once Toriel steps around the children, discreetly gesturing to Sans to follow her. He does without question.

Toriel gives one last glance at her fidgety class then shuts the classroom door. The soft look in her eyes were completely gone once she turned back to Sans. Even he flinched at her. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, a limp grin on his face and sweat already breaking out.

“Care to explain now?” she said.

“i...i err...i slipped,” came Sans' clumsy reply.

“Excuse me?”

“i slipped,” he repeats, a little more forcefully. He's not even sure if he's trying to convince Toriel, or himself this time. “i must have dozed off, ya know, i've been a bit _bone_ -tired lately.”

Toriel is quick to retort, “This is not going to work this time, Sans. Please.“

“i'm...not trying to pull anything here tori,” he says looking away, and only seconds later regretting that. As if he didn't need to give Toriel anymore hints.

“I am worried about you,” she admits, her voice pensive with her hands clasped. Her words sting, but he doesn't show it. “I know...I believe something...is troubling you, Sans. I can not ignore this feeling any longer. I am very worried.”

“ **please** , stop.” Sans asks of her. His fingers grip the insides of his coat pockets. “you don't have to worry about me. i'm absolutely fine tori, it was an accident and i'm sorry. i'm very sorry, i **really** am. but i'm fine. and that won't happen again, believe me.”

Toriel wants to say more, but she stops herself. Instead, she closes her eyes and takes a deep, calming breath out into the desolate hallways. “Then...if it's not too much trouble, please wait outside here. I do not think they...I will not be too much longer with them.”

“i'm sorry,” Sans says hurriedly again, even catching himself off guard, “to...to them i mean. and you. i'll...pay...for the damage, of course.”

Toriel nods appreciatively. “I know, and it's fine.”

Turning her back on him, she opens the door once more and the children scatter when they see her. It's nice to hear the playful chatter amongst them again, they both think. A few eyes are on Sans too but they barely spot him behind Toriel's body.

“Thank you for coming again Sans,” she says lastly, “it means a lot that...you would take care of Frisk.”

“of course tor--”

It was an automatic response for Sans, who has virtually no time to really think about what she just said before she closes the door on him. Once again, he's left out in hallways alone.

* * *

 

Another week passes by, and with it another weekend arrives. Sans finds himself resting, peacefully with his arms behind his head beneath a tall oak tree. Him and the rest of his friends agreed a good outing was really due time for everyone. So Toriel suggested a quaint little picnic get together, and everyone was equally agreeable. Even Asgore was invited, to which Toriel wasn't all too thrilled for but she decided to be mature about it.

After the drama that unfolded the week before, everything appeared to have quietened down. Toriel had kept quiet about what happened that day, and Frisk too. The child never questioned Sans that day also when he left with them. In fact, nothing was really heard from anyone else. Not the children, their parents or school staff. Sans managed to secretly pay off all the damage to Toriel, all the while wondering what kind of excuse she had to pull. And so ultimately, Papyrus ended up never knowing either.

 _'good, he doesn't need to know.'_ Sans ponders.

Speaking of his taller brother, Sans opens one lazy eye and instantly spots Undyne, Asgore and Papyrus not to far from where he was. They were playing an intense game of Frisbee it seems. Lots of yelling ensued, and Asgore trying to keep up with them. Sans thinks sympathetically for the poor guy.

Just around the corner of his tree, Sans can hear the pleasant chatter of Toriel and Alphys. Sans sits up a little bit, eyes open and brushes off some grass that got caught on the sleeves of his coat. He gained a much better view of the two girls sitting down on a large checkered blanket. They were talking and tending to the picnic basket. He picked up a few words here and there, something about recipes and the weather. Even a mention of Mettaton.

It really was a peaceful sight to behold. Everyone was laughing, playing, and chatting. It all looked so calm and happy, like something he dreamt about once upon a time. When Sans looked up to the blue sky above him, he never wanted it to end. He couldn't count the number of times he was still so blissfully enamoured by the world above. Or how long it had been, or how far they've all come...

 _'it's not a dream, bonehead,'_ Sans closes his eyes slowly, _'this is all real.'_

Tiny footsteps makes him reopen his eyes, and Sans notices Frisk gleefully running up to him with something in hand.

“what'chu got there kiddo?” he questions, and Frisk broadens their smile.

They cautiously open their hands revealing the pastel purple and white flowers. They appear to be tied together in some kind of circle by the stems.

Sans chuckles, “posies?”

Frisk shakes their head, and then reached for the top of his skull; who in turn bowed slightly. Taking a step back after placing it there, their grin grew seemingly wider. Gesturing with their hands through a series of motions, Sans guessed it was something that Frisk learnt at school. Maybe even from another classmate?

“aww,” Sans blushed a little, the smallest hint of blue on his cheeks. “thanks frisk. i'm _lavender_ colours on this one.” The child giggles along with him as he continues, “you got some for everyone else?”

Frisk nods, then motioned for Sans to wait before leaving again. He watches them go, jogging off and kneeling in front of a sparse area of flowers. Frisk begins to actively search. The breeze abruptly picks up a bit, knocking off a loose flower on top of Sans' head. It catches his eye, and it lands delicately on his coat. He gently plucks it off simply, twirling it in his fingers.

The shade on the petals were really pretty and subtle. Nothing like this grew Underground, besides the Echo Flowers, some other plants and weeds. Occasionally however, Sans recalls, there were golden flowers too. Those peculiar plants would grow in small bunches and speak- Hang on, no...no they don't. Flowers don't talk.

“ _Howdy~”_

Flowers **definitely** don't talk.

The flower spinning in his fingers melt and change, and so sudden do the colours warp and brighten into something more unsettlingly familiar. The petals are now completely yellow, the centre a pale white, and upon it bares a cruel grin.

Sans makes a startled noise and drops the plant. He stumbles back, crawling until he hits the trunk of the tree. “flowey..?!”

“ _Hey Sans~”_ the voice is all so whimsical, but horribly distorted at the same time.

“no...” he shakes his head, muttering in distress. “how can you...you can't..be here...”

He struggles to calm down, hands gripping at the sides of his head whilst Flowey exposes more of their vicious teeth. Their laughter is incredibly loud and obnoxious, it does nothing to quell his mind and the state of it causes his magic to swell. He bucks down shaking and sweating. His teeth grind, Sans is so desperate not to snap.

“no, this isn't...”

Sans was so occupied with his own unfolding dilemma that he doesn't hear Frisk approaching initially. But when he does...

Everything is all so **wrong**.

Frisk waves at him worriedly, but he only sees blurs and static.

“f..frisk?” Sans raises his head nervously at them and he cringes. Their body glitches, back and forth between a set of colours that hurt his eyes. His breathing becomes shorter and much more difficult.

Frisk continues to stare and warp so much so that Sans has to look away momentarily, and instead turn towards their clenched hands. There was something there. Flowers, just flowers...a ring of them. Sans remembered Frisk gesturing that they would be back with more of them.

**Lies.**

That's not what the skeleton sees. Sans growls, pulling himself away from the child that had a bloody knife in their hands. Agitated, he gains some distance letting his magic spill forth. Flowey was long gone, but he doesn't even see the fear on Frisk's face as they back away, or notice the flowers falling off his head. He doesn't see mercy or hear the voice of others as the light in his left eye flares up ecstatically. He doesn't even hear the screams when he summons a cage of bones that traps the child he so believes to be a demon.

Sans only sees Chara, and his own soul all of sudden feels much tighter. This is it. He's done this before, he can do it again. All he needs to do now is to make one wave of his hand and they're **gone.**

Undyne is the one that stops Sans first by body slamming him into the ground. And incredibly enough, just like that, all of his concentration and magic vanishes the split moment he was tackled.

“Sans! What the hell?!” she shouts at him angrily. A row of voices soon follow.

“BROTHER!!?”

“O-Oh my god..!”

“Frisk!!”

Sans groans, barely keeping himself together. White noise slowly floods his hearing. His vision starts to fade before his eyes, his skull throbbing painfully. Undyne continues to pin him to the dirt floor yelling more obscenity at him. He vaguely spots Papyrus running towards him in a panic, constantly calling out his name. Alphys is not too far either, she's approaching the situation very anxiously. The last thing Sans recalls before blacking out is the awful look of horror and worry on Toriel's face. She and Asgore hastily tear down the wall of bones that surrounded a petrified child; that simply held a bunch of harmless flowers in their trembling hands.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry Sans


	7. Author Note (will be deleted)

I apologise. Profusely. Sincerely. And eternally.

I know it sounds lame, and I really don't like putting up Author Notes like this but I felt it HAD to be said.

**I have not dropped this story, at all.**

Reason being WILL be explained in the next chapter rather than here.

I just wanted to give you all a heads up! I hope to have it, I mean this seriously, mid week coming depending on my proof reader (I'll be at Amecon after that!)

It has been a long time coming, 6/7 months exactly :(

Thank you all so so much. I plan to also reply to the missed comments individually soon.

Again, thank you <3 Have a great day! =]


End file.
